Trump lied to the American public. The Woodward tapes document the fact that Trump was aware how contagious and deadly the novel coronavirus is, that it is more than just the flu.  

But not once, not twice, but many times, he told us that COVID-19 was like the flu, that it was under control, that the death count would be minimal, that there was nothing to worry about. 

Why did he lie to us? Because he thinks that Americans cannot handle the truth. Just as he knows more than the generals, more than the judges and more than the health professionals, Trump knows what is best for us. He says he did not want us to panic — Americans, who overcame two world wars, the Great Depression, 9/11 and the Great Recession, would panic if we knew the truth about COVID-19?

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The reality is that in the early days of this pandemic in New York and New Jersey when it seemed that the virus was out of control when thousands were dying, the people of those states did persevere and they DID. NOT. PANIC.

Trump’s claim that he did not want to create panic resulted in the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. His lies gave cover to his lack of leadership, the confused messaging, the lack of a national testing policy, the espousing of “witch doctor” cures and, most recently, the appointment to the COVID-19 panel of a quack doctor who would tell Trump what he wants to hear.

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The Woodward tapes did not surprise me. Like many other Americans, I know that Trump is a pathological liar. But it doesn’t take a leap of faith or a stretch of logic to see Trump’s real motive for lying to Americans. It wasn’t about panic. After all this is a man who has no problem throwing gasoline on the fires of protest over police brutality. No his lies were about what a weakened economy would do to his election chances, because as always, in the end to Trump it is always about Trump.

Lou Coggia
Steamboat Springs